Correlation of Cancer Caregiver's Burden, Stress, and Their Quality of Life

Theodora Fellia; Pavlos Sarafis; Axilleas Bouletis; Vasileios Tzenetidis; Iokasti Papathanasiou; Theodora-Paisia Apostolidi; Niki Gkena; Athanasios Nikolentzos; Anna Patsopoulou; Maria Malliarou

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-31986-0_25

Correlation of Cancer Caregiver's Burden, Stress, and Their Quality of Life

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2023:1425:267-273. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-31986-0_25.

Affiliations

¹ Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece.
² University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
³ 404 General Military Hospital, Larissa, Greece.
⁴ Laboratory of Education and Research of Trauma Care and Patient Safety, Nursing Department, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
⁵ Nursing Department, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
⁶ Laboratory of Education and Research of Trauma Care and Patient Safety, Nursing Department, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece. malliarou@uth.gr.

PMID: 37581800
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-31986-0_25

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the stress levels felt by family caregivers. The main objectives of this study are (a) the cross-examination of family caregiver's burden, (b) caregiver's stress levels and its impact on burden feeling, also (c) the effect of caregiving on caregiver's quality of life.

Methods: A quantitative method was developed, with the use and collection of anonymous questionnaires. Participants consisted of 121 family caregivers of patients under Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN), along with the oversight of the company "Ygeias Erga and co." Tools that have been used for the needs of this study are a questionnaire with basic demographics: The Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), Quality of life questionnaire (CarGQoL), and KINGSTON CAREGIVER STRESS SCALE (KCSS): Data were analyzed with SPSS 22.

Results: 65.3% of the participants were women with an average age of 50.7 years. 39.7% were patients' spouses and 26.4% were high school graduates. 31.7% of the participants suffered from a chronic disease, with 22.3% taking daily medication. 67.8% lived in the same house as the patient, 30.6% were taking care of the patient for 6-12 months, and 39.7% had no help from another person. 43.8% of patients were under HPN for 1-3 months. A negative correlation was found between all dimensions of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and Kingston Caregiver Stress Scale and cancer caregiver CarGQoL scale scoring. Participants, who had help from another person permanently, had a better quality of life from others with no help whatsoever. Higher stress levels were found to be correlated with worse quality of life.

Conclusions: Burden increase was found to be related to stress increase. Younger participants and patients' female spouses had higher levels of stress. The present research also found that stress related to financial issues had an important role. Family caregiver support is found to be a matter of great importance, and healthcare professionals have to pay attention to their needs.

Keywords: Cancer; Caregiver burden; Parenteral nutrition; Quality of life.

MeSH terms

Caregivers
Cost of Illness
Emotions
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neoplasms* / therapy
Quality of Life*
Surveys and Questionnaires